


A Few More Tricks

by Anonymous



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bodyswap, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 18:59:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19409404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sif is brought to a most unusual manner of declaring her affections. Well, Loki is an unusual one himself, it has to be admitted, so it's almost fitting.





	A Few More Tricks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladylapislazuli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladylapislazuli/gifts).



It is not an intriguing experience to be considered an idiot.

Still, it could be amusing in its way – and it was what first made Sif take note of the younger prince of Asgard in his own capacity.

First Loki was charming, flattering in a courtly fashion as their shared proximity increased in her growing friendship with Thor; a few traded thumps and dares later, to look at Loki was to invite a roll of his eyes in return, and stinging comments that came like slips of the tongue. She was an idiot warrior like the rest of them, in his eyes, to be herded in schemes and put up with for his brother’s sake.

Before she knew it, they were all friends. The All-Father himself would assign them tasks together, all the quests that would keep the business of the Realms running in order. They knew each other; they worked well together.

It took more time for Sif to realise that Loki was better at the flattery than most. He didn’t make it seem like a means to an end – though it was, of course. When he put his mind to it he could catch Thor’s ear when he was in the grips of a proper fit of temper, lure Fandral from his flirtations, and very occasionally distract her or Hogun. Volstagg was the most impervious. It was underhanded and something only to take note of in order to ignore it the better – and yet Sif began to think of it as a tactic. She would agree to those plans where Loki was sent in to talk, and the rest of them would pause for a better moment to bring out weapons.

She watched him deploy his tricks, a little impatient always, but ... she found that she did keep watching. In all the little things he did and in all the grander gestures, she kept watching.

*

Heimdall, All-Seeing, at last found the lost prince of Asgard. But he could not have foreseen what would happen when they broke him from the Mad Titan’s stronghold, in the strange journey through the void.

By the time they landed back on the Rainbow Bridge, things were not as they should have been.

“Was this on purpose?” Loki asked, at last. He looked down the path to Asgard, where their escort awaited. Then he looked down again – at Sif’s body, which he could not seem to leave.

“Do you think I’d know the magic to do this?” she asked him. She couldn’t even wear his stupid helmet properly. The horns kept making her want to tip her head, feeling like they made her overbalance even though it was perfectly well-made. “I just want to know how we’re going to explain this.”

“You are delighted,” Loki accused. “Whatever degradations I or others imply during this occupation – you remain delighted.”

Sif began to explain, but he hadn’t finished – oh, but this seemed to be one of his touchiest moods, where his words would become a torrent if he decided that he’d been pushed.

“You always have, you know,” he said. “Though you were ever suspicious of me, allied with Hogun in our merry band, I would be able to look over at you and see you grin as if my every move were an entertainment, more so than a threat. Even at those times when you knew they were threats. It could have goaded me into more trouble, were my temper more like my brother’s.”

Always those little barbs – the insult to Thor, the idea that he could be in more trouble than he had left behind on attempting to destroy Jotunheim. This time, Sif’s smile was not of the light kind that they had been for centuries before. His bitterness was a burden, and his actions had been far beyond the pale.

But she was still glad. Before they left, Thor had brought to her one of the secrets of Loki’s madness – perhaps of why he’d never quite fit into his role in society, prince though he was. She knew the secret of this body.

As she was a warrior, so she’d learned to be brave. She could make this body take the form of a jotun, and look at it to be sure of how she felt. And then she would – she already knew – find Loki, and shock him into silence. She would give him no insults; she would offer no more recriminations than she’d already given; and she’d ensure no one punished him further for this.

Then he’d know. His mistakes, his madness – and the fact that she knew him, and loved him still.

Their future stretched thousands more years into the future. Perhaps there would be an end to madness yet.


End file.
